Go to JCI Insight
  • About
  • Editors
  • Consulting Editors
  • For authors
  • Publication ethics
  • Publication alerts by email
  • Advertising
  • Job board
  • Contact
  • Clinical Research and Public Health
  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • By specialty
    • COVID-19
    • Cardiology
    • Gastroenterology
    • Immunology
    • Metabolism
    • Nephrology
    • Neuroscience
    • Oncology
    • Pulmonology
    • Vascular biology
    • All ...
  • Videos
    • Conversations with Giants in Medicine
    • Video Abstracts
  • Reviews
    • View all reviews ...
    • Complement Biology and Therapeutics (May 2025)
    • Evolving insights into MASLD and MASH pathogenesis and treatment (Apr 2025)
    • Microbiome in Health and Disease (Feb 2025)
    • Substance Use Disorders (Oct 2024)
    • Clonal Hematopoiesis (Oct 2024)
    • Sex Differences in Medicine (Sep 2024)
    • Vascular Malformations (Apr 2024)
    • View all review series ...
  • Viewpoint
  • Collections
    • In-Press Preview
    • Clinical Research and Public Health
    • Research Letters
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Editorials
    • Commentaries
    • Editor's notes
    • Reviews
    • Viewpoints
    • 100th anniversary
    • Top read articles

  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • Specialties
  • Reviews
  • Review series
  • Conversations with Giants in Medicine
  • Video Abstracts
  • In-Press Preview
  • Clinical Research and Public Health
  • Research Letters
  • Letters to the Editor
  • Editorials
  • Commentaries
  • Editor's notes
  • Reviews
  • Viewpoints
  • 100th anniversary
  • Top read articles
  • About
  • Editors
  • Consulting Editors
  • For authors
  • Publication ethics
  • Publication alerts by email
  • Advertising
  • Job board
  • Contact
Top
  • View PDF
  • Download citation information
  • Send a comment
  • Terms of use
  • Standard abbreviations
  • Need help? Email the journal
  • Top
  • Abstract
  • Version history
  • Article usage
  • Citations to this article

Advertisement

Free access | 10.1172/JCI107625

Glucose Metabolism and the Response to Insulin by Human Adipose Tissue in Spontaneous and Experimental Obesity: EFFECTS OF DIETARY COMPOSITION AND ADIPOSE CELL SIZE

L. B. Salans, G. A. Bray, S. W. Cushman, E. Danforth Jr., J. A. Glennon, E. S. Horton, and E. A. H. Sims

Departments of Medicine, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755

Harbor General Hospital, University of California at Los Angeles School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California 90509

University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, Vermont 05401

New England Medical Center Hospitals, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts 02111

Find articles by Salans, L. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar

Departments of Medicine, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755

Harbor General Hospital, University of California at Los Angeles School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California 90509

University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, Vermont 05401

New England Medical Center Hospitals, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts 02111

Find articles by Bray, G. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar

Departments of Medicine, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755

Harbor General Hospital, University of California at Los Angeles School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California 90509

University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, Vermont 05401

New England Medical Center Hospitals, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts 02111

Find articles by Cushman, S. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar

Departments of Medicine, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755

Harbor General Hospital, University of California at Los Angeles School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California 90509

University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, Vermont 05401

New England Medical Center Hospitals, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts 02111

Find articles by Danforth, E. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar

Departments of Medicine, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755

Harbor General Hospital, University of California at Los Angeles School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California 90509

University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, Vermont 05401

New England Medical Center Hospitals, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts 02111

Find articles by Glennon, J. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar

Departments of Medicine, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755

Harbor General Hospital, University of California at Los Angeles School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California 90509

University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, Vermont 05401

New England Medical Center Hospitals, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts 02111

Find articles by Horton, E. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar

Departments of Medicine, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755

Harbor General Hospital, University of California at Los Angeles School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California 90509

University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, Vermont 05401

New England Medical Center Hospitals, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts 02111

Find articles by Sims, E. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar

Published March 1, 1974 - More info

Published in Volume 53, Issue 3 on March 1, 1974
J Clin Invest. 1974;53(3):848–856. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI107625.
© 1974 The American Society for Clinical Investigation
Published March 1, 1974 - Version history
View PDF
Abstract

[1-14C]glucose oxidation to CO2 and conversion into glyceride by adipose tissue from nonobese and obese subjects has been studied in vitro in the presence of varying medium glucose and insulin concentrations as functions of adipose cell size, the composition of the diet, and antecedent weight gain or loss.

Increasing medium glucose concentrations enhance the incorporation of glucose carbons by human adipose tissue into CO2 and glyceride-glycerol. Insulin further stimulates the conversion of glucose carbons into CO2, but not into glyceride-glycerol. Incorporation of [1-14C]glucose into glyceride-fatty acids by these tissues could not be demonstrated under any of the conditions tested.

Both adipose cell size and dietary composition influence the in vitro metabolism of glucose in, and the response to insulin by, human adipose tissue. During periods of ingestion of weight-maintenance isocaloric diets of similar carbohydrate, fat, and protein composition, increasing adipose cell size is associated with (a) unchanging rates of glucose oxidation and increasing rates of glucose carbon incorporation into glyceride-glycerol in the absence of insulin, but (b) decreasing stimulation of glucose oxidation by insulin. On the other hand, when cell size is kept constant, increasing dietary carbohydrate intake is associated with an increased basal rate of glucose metabolism and response to insulin by both small and large adipose cells. Thus, the rate of glucose oxidation and the magnitude of the insulin response of large adipose cells from individuals ingesting a high carbohydrate diet may be similar to or greater than that in smaller cells from individuals ingesting an isocaloric lower carbohydrate diet.

The alterations in basal glucose metabolism and insulin response observed in adipose tissue from patients with spontaneous obesity are reproduced by weight gain induced experimentally in nonobese volunteers; these metabolic changes are reversible with weight loss. The relationships among adipose cell size, dietary composition, and the metabolism of adipose tissue are similar in spontaneous and in experimental obesity.

Browse pages

Click on an image below to see the page. View PDF of the complete article

icon of scanned page 848
page 848
icon of scanned page 849
page 849
icon of scanned page 850
page 850
icon of scanned page 851
page 851
icon of scanned page 852
page 852
icon of scanned page 853
page 853
icon of scanned page 854
page 854
icon of scanned page 855
page 855
icon of scanned page 856
page 856
Version history
  • Version 1 (March 1, 1974): No description

Article tools

  • View PDF
  • Download citation information
  • Send a comment
  • Terms of use
  • Standard abbreviations
  • Need help? Email the journal

Metrics

  • Article usage
  • Citations to this article

Go to

  • Top
  • Abstract
  • Version history
Advertisement
Advertisement

Copyright © 2025 American Society for Clinical Investigation
ISSN: 0021-9738 (print), 1558-8238 (online)

Sign up for email alerts